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Topic: Beefing Up a CM Storm Key Tester (Read 11025 times)

Ever since I hacked a Teensy into Cooler Master's key tester I thought this could be done more "professional" w/ a custom made PCB. Unfortunately, I have a hard time wrapping my head around PCB design software, despite the fact that I work w/ PCB's pretty much every day -- I can read schematics, trace diagrams, know electronic components -- CAD software freaks me out :/ So I bounced the idea of a few people I know doing PCB design work almost every day, last one was bpiphany (designer of the Costar Replacement Controllers, one of my all time favorite DIY projects) -- he came up w/ a PCB design w/in half a day and set me up w/ pcbwing to have four protos made Here's the short (picture) story of how this worked out for your entertainment.

Unpacking and inspecting for fit, looking good:

Resistors go in 1st:

The Teensy needs to be almost flush, a piece of sticky note on the back will create a wee bit of clearance:

Everything is working as planned, I'm happy It's a bit of a novelty tho, I don't think there are many uses -- media controller, Dota keyboard, cursor block next to a 60% board (my personal favorite.) Not the most cost efficient way to do it either, 4 boards run at $50 (although this would substantially come down w/ volume), a Teensy is $16. Thoughts ?

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But thatís incorrect. Itís in HHKBís slogan, but when Americaís cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

I got different LED's in the switches -- red for the arrow cluster, blue for Fn and green for the skull key. The green LED's I got are a bit on the bright side (8400mcd @ 20mA), so I installed a 3k3 for it.

Ah yes, the matrix is wired up as 6x1 w/o diodes, the LED's are PWM driven individually (7.8kHz cycle in this case.) Looks like a Pro Micro could be a possible substitute, have to look into that. I used a Teensy mainly because I have them lying around and I like the bootloader (I don't do Arduino and I hate Flip w/ a passion..)

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But thatís incorrect. Itís in HHKBís slogan, but when Americaís cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

The only price point I have is the proto run w/ PCBWing -- $50.97 inc. shipping for four boards. Boards are dual layer, 57x53mm in size (4.7in^2, looks like $25 for 3 at OSHPark ?). bpiphany was setting this up for me, he also owns the design and files of the board. I would not have a problem if he or anyone else is having more boards made (as long the dedication texts stay in place.) I'll point him to this threat.

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But thatís incorrect. Itís in HHKBís slogan, but when Americaís cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

yeah, count me in and i know someone else interestsed. between the both of us we would be down for three. its all about who would be willing to lead this i guess. shipping and what not is possible, just would take some time.

It is a pain in the ass to get open, there are tabs on both the front and back keeping the case together. I found the easiest way was what was described in this post https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58029.0. Don't be too afraid of breaking it, I was able to leverage pretty hard without any permanent damage.

It is a pain in the ass to get open, there are tabs on both the front and back keeping the case together. I found the easiest way was what was described in this post https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58029.0. Don't be too afraid of breaking it, I was able to leverage pretty hard without any permanent damage.

Yeah I was afraid of breaking it, thanks for the info, that post is useful too.

Edit: I don't have a wedged pry tool like he has there :/ I have only a guitar pick and a short wedge.

It is a pain in the ass to get open, there are tabs on both the front and back keeping the case together. I found the easiest way was what was described in this post https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=58029.0. Don't be too afraid of breaking it, I was able to leverage pretty hard without any permanent damage.

Yeah I was afraid of breaking it, thanks for the info, that post is useful too.

Edit: I don't have a wedged pry tool like he has there :/ I have only a guitar pick and a short wedge.

Yeah I didn't either, I actually used a spatula from a chemistry lab but you could probably get away with a butter knife if you had a thin enough one or maybe the guitar pick or short wedge to get a little gap and then a butter knife.

"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But thatís incorrect. Itís in HHKBís slogan, but when Americaís cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

Pardon my electronewbness but which Ohmage do I go with when planning to use SIP sockets and swapping out LED's at will? I have enough to do all 470 ohm and I have enough 1 k ohm resistors to do the job. Which would be best?